frm, 


Duke  University  Libraries 


D03209706R 


MESSAGE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 


To  thr  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Confederate  Stat 

At  the  date  of  your  last  adjournment  the  preparations  of  the  enemy 
for  further  hostilities  had  assumed  so  menacing  an  aspect  as  to  excite 
in  some  minds  apprehension  of  our  ability  to  meet  them  with  sufficient 

promptness  to  avoid  serious  reverses.  These  preparations  were  com- 
t  shortly  after  your  departure  from  the  seat  of  government,  and 
the  armies  of  the  United.  States  made  simultaneous  advance  on  our 
frontiers,  on  the  western  rivers  and  on  the  Atlantic  coast  in  masses 
so  great  as  to  evince  their  hope  of  overbearing  all  resistance  by  mere 
weight  of  numbers.  This  hope,  however,  like  those  previously  • 
tained  by  our  foes,  has  vanished*  In  Virginia,  their  fourth  attempt^ 
at  invasion  by  armies  whose  assured  su<  -  confidently  predicted, 

has  met  with  decisive   repulse.     Our  noble  defenders,  under  the 
Bum  mate  leadership  of  their  general,  have  again,  at  Fredericksburg, 
inflicted  on  the  forces  under  General   Burnside  the   like  disastrous 
overthrow  as  had  been  previously  suffered  by  the  successive  invading: 
armies  commanded  by  Generals  McDowell,  McClellan  and  Pope. 

In  the  West  obstinate  battles  have  been   fought  with  varying  for- 
tunes, marked  by  frightful    carnage    on    both   sides,  but  the  enemy's 
hopes  of  decisive  results  have  again  been  baffled,  while  at  Viok 
another  formidable  expedition  has  been  repulsed,  with  inconsiderable* 
loss  on  our  side  and   severe  damage  to  the  assailing  forces.      On  the 
Atlantic  coast  the  enemy  has  been  unable  to  gain   a  footing  b< 
the  protecting  shelter  of  his  fleets,  and  the  city  of  Galveston  has  just 
been  recovered  by  our  forces,  which  succeeded  not  only  in  the  capture 
of  the  garrison  hut  of  one  of  the  enemy's  vessels  of  war,  which  was 
carried  by  boarding  parties  from  merchant  river  steamers.     Our  for- 
tified  positions  have   every  where  been  much  strengthened  and  im- 
proved, affording  assurance  of  our  ability  to  meet,  with  success,  the 
t  efforts  of  our  enemies,  in  spite  of  the  magnitude  of  their  pre- 
parations for  attack. 

A  review  of  our  history  during  the  two  years  of  our  national  ex- 
istence affords  ample  cause  for  congratulation  and  demands  the  most 
fervent  expression  of  our  thankfulness  to  the  Almighty  Father  who • 
has  blessed  our  cause.      We  are  justified  in  asserting,  with  a  pride, 
surely  not  unbecoming,  that  these  I  ate  States  have  added  an- 

other to  the  lessons  taught  by  history  for  the  instruction  of  man: 
thatj  they  have  afforded  another  example  of  the  impossibility  of  sub- 
jugating a  people  determined  to  be  free,  and  have  demonstrated  that 
no  superiority  of  numbers  or  available  resources  can  overcome  the 
resistance  offered  by  such  valor  in  combat,  such  constancy  under  suf- 
fering and  Buch  cheerful  endurance  of  privation  as  have  been  conspic- 
uously displayed  by  this  people  in  the  del  their  rights  and  liber- 
ties.    The  anticipations  with  which  wo  entered  into  the  contest  have- 


2 

now  ripened  into  a  conviction  which  is  not  only  shared  with  as  by  tlio 

common  opinion  of  neutral  nations,  but  is  evidently  forcing  Itself 
our  enemies  them  eel  vc#.  If  we  but  marl  the  history  of  the  pri 
year  by  resolute  perseverance  in  the  path  we  have  hitherto  pursued; 
by  vigorous  effort' in  the  development  of  all  our  resources  for  defence; 
and  by  the  continued  exhibition  of  the  same  unfaltering  courage  in 
our  soldiers  and  able  conduct  in  their  leaders  as  have  distinguished 
th:  past,  we  have  every  reason  to  <  it  this  will  be  the  cl 

year  of  the  war.  The  war.  which  in  its  inception,  was  waged  for 
forcing  us  hack  into  the  Union,  having  failed  to  accomplish  that  pur- 
pose, passed  into  a  second  stage  in  which  it  was  attempted  to  conquer 
and  rule  these  States  as  dependent  provinces.  Defeated  in  this  second 
Resign,  our  enemies  have  evidently  entered  upon  another,  which  can 
have  no  other  purpose  than  revenge  and  thirsl  for  blood  and  plunder  of 
private  property.  But  however  implacable  they  may  be,  they  ran  have 
■either  the  spirit  nor  the  resources  required  for  a  fourth  year  of  a 
struggle  uncheered  by  any  hope  of  success,  kept  alive  solely  for  the 
indulgence  of  mercenary  and  wicked  passions,  and  demanding  so  ex- 
haustivcan  expenditure  of  blood  and  money  as  has  hitherto  been  impose  i 
on  their  people.  The  advent  of  peace  will  be  hailed  with  joy.  Our 
desire  for  it  has  never  been  concealed.  Our  efforts  to  avoid  the  war 
forced  on  us  as  it  was,  by  the  lust  of  conquest  and  the  insane  passions 
of  our  foes,  are  known  to  mankind.  But  earnest  as  has  been  our  wish 
for  peace  and  great  as  have  been  our  sacrifices  and  sufferings  during 
the  war.  the  determination  of  Lhis  people  has  with  each  succeeding 
month  become  more  unalterably  fixed,  to  endure  any  sufferings  and 
Continue  any  sacrifices,  however  prolonged,  until  their  right  to  self- 
government  and  the  sovereignty  and  ind  spendencc  of  these  States  shall 
have  been  triumphantly  vindicated  and  firmly  established. 

In  this  connection,  the  occasion  seems  not  unsuitable  for  some  ref- 
erence to  the  relations  between  the  Confederacy  and  the  neutral  powers 
of  Europe  since  the  separation  of  these  States,  from  the  former  Union. 
■  Four  of  the  States  now  members  of  the  Confederacy  were  recog- 
aaised  by  name  as  independent  sovereignties  in  a  treaty  of  peace, 
•concluded  in  the  year  1783,  with  one  of  the  two  great  maritime 
powers  of  Western  Europe,  and  had  been,  prior  to  that  period,  allies 
in  war  of  the  other.  In  the  year  1778  they  formed  a  Onion  with 
nine  other  States  under  articles  of  Confederation.  Dissatisfied  with 
that  Union,  three  of  them,  Virginia,  South  Carolina  and  (jieorgia, 
together  with  eight  of  the  States  now  members  of  the  Unite, 1  States, 
geceded  from  it  in  1789,  and  these  eleven  seceding  States  formed  a 
second  union,  although  by  the  terms  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
express  provision  was  made  that  the  first  union  should  be  perpetual. 
Their  right  to  secede,  notwithstanding  this  provision,  was  neither 
contested  by  the  States  from  which  they  separated,  nor  made  the 
subject  of  discussion  with  any  third  power.  When,  at  a  later  period, 
North  Carolina  acceded  to  that  second  union,  and  when,  still  later, 
the  other  seven  States,  now  members  of  this  Confederacy,  became 
also  members  of  the  same  Union,  it  was  upon  the  recognized  footing 
of  equal  and  independent  sovereignties,  nor  had  it  then  entered  into 


"the  minds  of  men  that  sovereign  States  could  be  compelled,  by  force, 
"to  remain  members  of  a  confederation  into  which  they  had  entered  of 
their  own  free  will,  if.  at  a  subsequent  period,  the  defense  of  their 
safety  and  holier  should,  in  their  judgment,  justify  withdrawal.  The 
experience  o!  the  past  had  evinced  the  futility  of  any  renunciation  of 
such  inherent  rights,  and  .accordingly  the  provision  for  perpetuity 
contained  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation  of  1778  was  omitted  in  the 
Constitution  of  1789.  When,  therefore,  in  1S61  eleven  of  the  States 
Id  thought  proper,  for  reasons  satisfactory  to  themselves,  to  secede 
from  the  second  union,  ami  to  form  a  third  one  under  an  amended 
.constitution,  they  exercised  a  right  which,  being  inherent,  required  no 
justification  to  foreign  nations,  and  which  international  law  did  not 
permit  them  to  question.  The  usages  of  intercourse  between  nations 
do,  however,  require  that  official  communication  be  made  to  friendly 
powers  -  f  :i!l  organic  changes  in  the  constitution  of  State-,  and  there 
was  obvious  propriety  in  giving  prompt  assurance  of  our  desire  to 
continue  amicable  relations  with  all  mankind.  It  was  under  the  influ- 
ence of  these  considerations  that  your  predecessors,  the  provisional 
government,  took  early  measures  for  sending  to  Europe  Commissioners 
charged  with  the  duty  of  visiting  the  capitals  of  the  different  powers, 
and  making  arrange!  r  the  opening  of  more  formal  diplomatic 

intercourse. 

Prior,  however,  to  the  arrival  abroad  of  those  Commissioners,  the 
United  States  had  commenced  hostilities  against  the  Confederacy  by 
despatching  a  secret  expedition  for  the  reinforcement  of  Fort  Sumter, 
^"ter  an  express  promise  to  the  contrary,  and  with  a  duplicity  which 
has  been  fully  unveiled  in  a  former  message.  They  had  also  addressed 
communications  to  the  different  Cabinets  of  Europe,  in  which  they 
umed  the  attitude  of  being  sovereign  over  this  Confederacy,  alleg- 
ing that  these  independent  States  were  in  rebellion  against  the  remain- 
ing States  of  the  Union*  and  threatening  Europe  with  manife;  tataons  of 
their  displeasure  if  it  should  treat  the  Confederate  States  as  having  an 
independent  existence  It  soon  became  known  that  these  pretem  inns 
were  not  considered  abroad  to  be  as  absurd  as  they  were  known  to  lie 
at  home,  nor  had  Europe  }ret  learned  what  reliance  was  to  be  placed 
on  the  official  statements  of  the  Cabinet  at  Washington.  The  delega- 
tion of  power  granted  by  these  States  to  the  Federal  Government  to 
represent  them  in  foreign  intercourse  had  led  Europe  into  the  grave 
error  of  supposing  that  their  separate  sovereignty  and  independenci 
had  been  merged  into  one  common  sovereignty,  and  had  ce.\>  d  *.■  Lave 
a  distinct  existence.  Under  the  influence  of  this  error,  which -all # 
^appeals  to  reason  and  historical  fact  were  vainly  used  to  dispel,  our 
Commissioners  were  met  by  the  declaration  that  foreign  government! 
could  not  assume  to  judge  between  the  conflicting  representations  of 
the  two  parties  as  to  the  true  nature  of  their  previous  mutual  rela- 
tions. The  governments  of.  Great  Britain  and  France  accordingly 
signified  their  determination  to  confine  themselves  to  recognizing  the 
self-evident  fact  of  the  existence  of  a  war,  and  to  maintaining  a  strict 
neutrality  during  its  progress.  Some  of  the  other  powers  of  Europe 
pursued  the  same  course  of  policy,  and  it  became  apparent  that  by 


some  understanding,  express  or  tacit,  Europe  had  decided  to  leave  the 
initiative  in  all  action  touching  the  contest  on  this  continent  to  the 
two  powers  just  named,  who  ••  agnized  to  have  the  largest  inter- 

ests involved,  both  by  reason  of  proximity  and  of  the  extent  and 
intimacy  of  their  commercial  relations   with  the   States  engaged   in 

W  !1\ 

It  is  manifest  that  the  course  of  action  adopted  by  Europe,  'while 
bused  on  an  apparent  refusal  to  determine  the  question,  or  to  si  le 
with  either  party,  was  in  point  of  fact  an  actual  decision  against  our 
rights  and  in  favor  of  the  groundless  pretend  i  ns  of  the  United  States. 
It  was  a  refusal  to  treat  us  as  an  independent  government.  If  wc 
Wtere  independent  States,  the  refusal  to  entertain  with  us  tl>c  same  in- 
ternational intercourse  as  was  maintained  with  our  enemy  was  unjust, 
and  was  injurious  in  its  effects,  whatever  may  have  been  the  motive 
which  prompted  it.  Neither  was  it  in  accordance  with  the  high  moral 
obligations  of  that  international  code  whose  chief  sanction-is  the  con- 
science  of  sovereigns  and  the  public  opinion  of  mankind,  that  those- 
eminent  powers  should  decline  the  performance  of  a  duty  peculiarly 
incumbent  on  them,  from  any  apprehension  of  the  consequences  to 
themselves.  One  immediate  and  necessary  result  of  their  declining 
the  responsibility  of  a  decision  which  must  have  been  adverse  to  the 
extravagant  pretensions  of  the  United  States,  was  the  prolongation  of 
hostilities  to  which  our  enemies  were  thereby  encouraged  and  which 
have  resulted  in  nothing  but  scenes  of  carnage  and  devastation  on  this 
continent,  and  of  misery  and  suffering  en  the  other,  such  as  have 
scarcely  a  parallel  in  history.  Had  those  powers  promptly  admitted 
our  right  to  be  treated  as  all  other  independent  nations,  none  can 
doubt  that  the  moral  effect  of  such  action  would  have  been  to  dispel 
the  delusion  under  which  the  United  States  have  persisted  in  their 
efforts  to  accomplish  our  subjugation.  To  the  continued  hesitation  of 
the  same  powers  in  rendering  this  act  of  simple  justice  towards  this 
Confederacy  is  still  due  the  continuance  of  the  calamities  which  man- 
kind Buffers  from  the  interruption  of  its  peaceful  pursuits-,  both  in  the 
old  and  the  new  worlds. 

There  are  other  matters  in  which  less  than  justice  has  been  rendered 
to  this  people  by  neutral  Europe,  and  undue  advantage  conferred  on 
the  aggressors  in  a 'wicked  war.  At  the  inception  of  hostilities  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Confederacy  were  almost  exclusively  agriculturists  ; 
tfeoseof  the  United  States,  to  a  great  extent,  mechanics  and  merchants. 
Wo  had  no  commercial  marine,  while  their  merchant  vessels  covered 
J:hc  ocean.  We  were  without  a  navy,  while  they  had  powerful  fleets. 
The  advantage  which  they  pi  r  inflicting  injury  on  our  coasts  f 

and  harbors  was  thus  counterbalanced  in  some  measure  by  the  expo- 
sure of  their  commerce  to  attack  by  private  armed  vessels.  It  was 
known  to  Europe  that  within  a  very  few  years  past  the  United  States 
had  peremptorily  refused  to  accede  to  proposals  for  abolishing  priva- 
teering, on  the  ground,  as  alleged  by  them,  that  nations  owning  pow- 
erful fleets  would  thereby  obtain  undue  advantage  over  those  possess- 
ing inferior  naval  forces.  Yet  no  sooner  was  war  flagrant  between  the 
Confederacy  and  the  United  States,  than  the  maritime  powers  of  Europe 


issued  -orders  prohibiting  either  party  from  bringing  prizes  into  their 
ports.  This  prohibition  directed  with  apparent  impartiality  against 
-both  bcligerents,  was  in  reality  effective  against  the  Confederate  States 
alone,  for  they  alone  could  find  a  hostile  commerce  on  the  ocean. 
Merely  nominal  against  the  United  States,  the  prohibition  operated 
with  intense  severity  on  tbe  Confederacy,  by  depriving  it  of  tbe  only 
means  of  maintaining,  with  some  approach  to  equality,  its  struggle  on 
the  ocean  against  tbe  crushing  superiority  of  naval  force  possessed  by 
its  enemies.  Tbe  value  and  efficiency  of  the  weapon  which  was  thus 
wrested  from  our  grasp  by  the  combined  action  of  neutral  European 
powers  in  favor  of  a  nation  which  professes  openly  its  intention  of 
ravaging  their  commerce  by  privateers  in  any  future  war,  is  striking- 
ly illustrated  by  the  terror  inspired  among  the  commercial  classes' of 
the  United  States  by  a  single  cruiser  of  the  Confederacy.  One 
national  steamer  commanded  by  officers  and  manned  by  a.  crew  who 
•are  debarred,  by  the  closure  of  neutral  ports,  from  the  opportunity  of 
causing  captured  vessels  to  be  condemned  in  their  favor  as  prize,  baa 
sufficed  to  double  the  rates  of  marine  insurance  in  Northern  ports  and 
ton  sign  to  forced  inaction  numbers  of  Northern  vessels,  in  addition  to 
the  direct  damage  inflicted  by  captures  at  sea  How  difficult,  then,  ftp 
overestimate  the  effects  that  must  have  been  produced  by  the  hundreds 
•of  private  armed  vessels  that  would  have  swept  the  seas  in  pursuit  of 
the  commerce  of  our  enemy,  if  the  means«Of  disposing  of  their  prizes 
had  not  been  withheld  by  the  action  of'  neutral   Europe  ! 

But  it  is  especially  in  relation  to  the  so-called  blockade  of  our  coast 
that  the  policy  of  European  powers  has  been  so  shaped  as  to  cause 
the  greatest  injury  to  the  Confederacy,  and  to  confer  signal  advantage* 
on  the  United  States.  The  importance  of  this  subject  requires  soms 
development. 

Prier  to  the  year  1856,  the  principles  regulating  this  subject  were 
to  be  gathered  from  the  writings  of  eminent  publicists,  the  decisions 
of  admiralty  courts,  international  treaties,  ami  the  usages  of  nations. 
The  uncertainty  ami  doubt  which  prevailed  in  reference  to  the  true 
rules  of  maritime  law,  in  time  of  war,  resulting  from  the  discordant 
and  often  conliicting  principles  announced  from  such  varied  and  in- 
dependent sources,  had  become  a  grievous  evil  to  mankind.  Whether 
a,  blockade  was  allowable  against  a  port  not  invested  by  land  as  well  ..* 
by  sea;  whether  a  blockade  was  valid  by  sea.  if  the  investing  fleet  wat 
merely  sufficient  to  render  ingress  to  the  blockaded  port  '"evidently 
dangerous,"  or  whether  it  was  further  required  for  its  legality  that  it 
should  be  sufficient  "  really  to  prevent  access  ;"  and  numerous  other 
similar  questions  bad  remained  doubtful  and  undecided. 

Animated  by  the  highly  honorable  desire  to  put  an  end  "  to  differ- 
ences of  opinion  between  neutrals  and  belligerents,  which  may  >  ccasion' 
serious  difficulties  and  even  conflicts,'3  (1  quote  the  official  language,) 
the  five  great  owera  of  Europe,  together  with  Sardinia  and  Turk  y\ 
adopted.,  in  1S5G,  the  following  "solemn  declaration''  of  principles: 

1.  Privateering  is,  and  remains  abolished. 

2.  The  neutral  Hag  covers  enemy's  goods,  with  the  exception  of 
contraband  of  war. 


.  3,   Neutral  Lroods.  with  the  exception  of  contraband  of  \sar,  are  not 
liable*  to  capture  under  enemy's  flag. 

4.  Blockades^  in  order  to  be  binding,  must  be  effective;  that  is  to- 
gay,  maintained  by  a  force  sufficient  really  to  prevent  access  to  the 
coast  of  the  enemy. 

Not  only  did  this  solemn  declaration  announce  to  the  world  the 
principles  to  which  the  signing  powers  agreed  to  conform  in  future 
wars,  but  it  contained  a  clan-;1  to  which  those  powers  gave  immediate 
effect,  and  which  provided  that  the  States,  not  parties  to  the  Congress 
cf  Paris,  should  be  invited  to  accede  to  the  declaration.  Under  this 
invitation  every  independent  State  in  Europe  yielded  its  assent  ;  at 
least,  no  instance  is  known  to  me  of  a  refusal ;  ami  the  United  States. 
while  declining  to  assent  to  the  proposition  which  prohibited  privateer- 
ing, declared  that  the  three  remaining  principles  were  in  entire  accord- 
ance with  their  own  views  of  international   law. 

No  instance  is  known  in  history  of  the  adoption  of  rules  of  public 
law  under  circumstances  of  like  solemnity,  with  like  unanimity,  and 
pledging  the  faith  of  nations  with  a  sanctity  so  peculiar. 

When,  therefore,  this  Confederacy  was  formed,  and  when  neutral 
powers  while  deferring  action  on  its  demand  for  admission  into  the 
family  of  nations,  recognized  it  as  a  belligerent  power,  Great 
Britain  and  France  made  informal  proposals  about  the  same  time  that 
their  own  rights  as  neutrals  should  be  guarantied  by  our  acceding,  as 
belligerents,  to  the  declaration  of  principles  made  by  the  Congress  of 
Paris.  The  request  was  addressed  to  our  sense  of  justice,  and  there- 
fore met  immediate  favorable  response  in  the  resolutions  of  the  Pro- 
visional Congress  of  the  13th  August,  1861,  by  which  all  the  principles 
announced  by  tb>o  Congress  of  Paris  were  adopted  as  the  guide  of  our 
conduct  during  the  war,  with  the  sole  exception  of  that  relative  to 
privateering.  xVs  the  right  to  make  use  of  privateers  was  one  in* 
which  neutral  nations  had,  as  to  the  present  war,  no  interest;  as  it 
was  a  right  which  the  United  States  had  refused  to  abandon  and  which 
tin'y  remained  at  liberty  to  employ  against  us;  as  it  was  a  right  of 
which  we  were  already  in  actual  enjoyment,  and  which  Ave  could  not 
be  expected  to  renounce  flagrante  bello  against  an  adversary  possessing, 
an  overwhelming  superiority  of  naval  forces,  it  was  reserved  with  en- 
tire confidence  that  neutral  nations  could  not  fail  to  perceive  that  just 
reason  existed  for  the  reservation.  Nor  was  this  confidence  misplaced, 
for  the  official  documents  published  by  the  British  Government,  usually 
I  *'  Blue  Books,"  contain  the  expression  of  the  satisfaction  of 
that  government  with  the  conduct  of  the  officials  who  conducted  suc- 
cessfully the  delicate  business  confided  to  their  charge. 

These  solemn  declarations  of  principle,  this  implied  agreement  be- 
tween the  Confederacy  and  the  two  powers  just  named,  have  been- 
suffered  to  remain  inoperative  against  the  menaces  and  outrages  on 
neutral  rights,  committed  by  the  United  States  with  unceasing  and 
progressing  arrogance  during  the  whole  period  of  the  war.  Neutral 
Europe  remained  passive  when  tho  United  States,  with  a  naval  force 
Insufficient  to  blockade,  effectively,  the  coast  of  a  single  State,  pro- 
. claimed  a  paper  blockade  of  thousands  of  miles  of  coast,,  extending. 


from  the  capes  of.  the  Chesapeake  to  those  of  Florida,  ancf  encircling 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  from  Key  West  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
Compared  with  this  monstrous  pretension  of  the  United  States,  the 
blockades  known  in  history,  under  the  names  of  the  Berlin  and  Milan 
decrees,  and  the  British  orders  in  Council,  in  the  years  18  6  and 
1807  sink  into  insignificance  !  Yet  those  blockades  were  justified 
by  the  powers  that  declared  them,  on  the  sole  ground  that  they  were 
retaliatory;  yet  those  blockades  have  since  been  condemned  by  the 
publicists  of  those  very  powers  as  violations  of  international  law  ;  yet 
blockades  evoked  angry  remonstrances  from  neutral  powers 
amongst  which  the  United  States  were  the  most  conspicuous  ;  yet. 
those  blockades  became  the  chief  cause  of  the  war  between  Great 
Britain  ami  the  United  States  in  1812  ;  yet  those  blockades  were  <mo 
of  the  principal  motives  that  led  to  (lie  declaration  of  the  Congress  of 
Paris  in  1856.  in  the  fond  hope  of  imposing  an  enduring  check  on  the 
very  abuse  of  maritime  power,  which  is  now  renewed  by  the  United 
States  in  1861  ami  1862,  under  circumstances  and  with  features  of 
aggravated  wrong  without  precedent  in  history. 

The  records  of  our  State  Department  contain  the  evidence  of  the 
r  .ted  and  formal  remonstrances  made  by  this  government  to 
neutral  powers  against  the  recognition  of  this  blockade.  It  has  been 
shown  by  evidence  not  capable  of  contradiction,  and  which  has  edb 
furnished  in  part  by  the  officials  of  neutral  nations,  that  the  few  ports 
of  tins  Confederacy,  before  which  any  naval  forces  at  all  have  been 
stationed,  have  been  invested  so  inefficiently  that,  hundreds  of  entries 
have  been  effected  into  them  since  the  declaration  of  the  blockade: 
that  our  enemies  have  themselves  admitted  the  inefficiency  of  their 
blockade  in  the  most  forcible  manner,  by  repeated  official  complaints 
of  the  sale,  to  us.  of  goods  contraband  of  war,  a  sale  which  could  not 
possibly  affect  their  interests  if  their  pretended  blockade  was  sufficient 
"  really  to  prevent  access  to  our  coast ;"  that  they  have  gone  farther, 
and  have  alleged  their  inability  to  render  their  paper  blockade  effective 
as  the  excuse  for  the  odious  barbarity  of  destroying  the  entrance  to 
one  of  our  harbors  by  sinking  vessels  loaded  with  stone  in  the  chan- 
nel; that  our  commerce  with  foreign  nations  has  been  intercepted,  ndt 
by  the  effective  investment  of  our  ports,  nor  by  the  seizure  of  ships  in 
the  attempt  to  enter  them,  but  by  the  capture  on  the  high  seas  of 
neutral  vessels  by  the  cruisers  of  our  enemies  whenever  supposed  to 
be  bound  to  any  point  on  our  extensive  coast,  without  enquiry  whether 
a  single  blockading  vessel  was  to  be  found  at  such  point;  thai  block^. 
ading  vessels  have  left  the  poitsat  which  they  were  stationed  for  distaet 
expeditions,  have  been  absent  for  many  days  and  have  returned,  with- 
out notice  either  of  the  cessation  or  renewal  of  the  blockade;  in  a 
word,  that  every  prescription  of  maritime  law,  and  every  right  of 
neutral  nations  to  trade  with  a  belligerent  under  the  sanction  of  prion 
ciples  heretofore  anivereaily  respected,  have  been  systematically  awj 
persistently  violated  by  the  United  States.  Neutral  Europe  his 
received  our  remonstrances  and  has  submitted  in  almost  unbroken 
Bilence  to  all  the  wrongs  that  the  United  Spates  have  chosen  to  inllict 
on  its  commerce.     The  Cabinet  of  Groat  Britain,  however,   has  not. 


8 

confined  itsflf  to  such  implied  acquiescence  in  these  breaches  of  inter- 
national law  as  results  from  simple  inaction,  but  has  in  a  published 
d  *eh  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  assumed  tomake 
a  change  in  the  principle  enunciated  by  the  I  !ongress  of  Paris,  to  which 
the  faith  or  the  British  Government  was  considered  to  be  pledged  ; 
a  ehange  too  important  and  too  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the 
Confederacy  to  be  overlooked,  and  against  which  I  have  directed 
solemn  protest  to  be  m  sr  a  vain   attempt  to  obtain  satisfactory 

explanations  from  the  British  Government.  In  a  published  despatch 
from  her  Majesty's  Foreign  Office,  to  her  Minister  at  Washington, 
under  date  of  the  11th  February,  18G2,  occurs  the  following  pas 

"  Her  Majesty's  Government,  however,  are  of  opinion  that  assum- 
ing that  the  blockade  was  duly  notified  and  also  that  a  number  of  ships 
is  stationed  and  remains  at  the  entrance  of  a  port  sufficient  really  to 
prevent  access  to  it ;  or  to  create  an  evident  danger  of  entering  it  or  Iteming 
it,  and  that  these  ships  do  not  voluntarily  permit  ingress  or  egress, 
the  fact  that  various  ships  may  have  successfully  escaped  through  it 
(as  in  the  particular  instance  here  referred  to)  will  not  of  itself  pre- 
vent the  blockade  from  being  an  effectual  one  by  international  law." 

The  words  which  I  have  italicised  are  an  addition  made  by  the 
British  Government  of  its  own  authority  to  a  principle  the  exact 
terms  of  which  were  settled  with  deliberation  by  the  common  consent 
of  civilized  nations,  and  by  implied  convention  with  this  Government, 
as  already  explained,  and  their  effect  is  clearly  to  re-open  to  the  pre- 
judice of  the  Confederacy  one  of  the  very  disputed  questions'  on  tbe 
law  of  blockade  which  the  Congress  of  Paris  professed  to  settle.  rJ  no 
importance  of  this  change  is  readily  illustrated  by  taking  one  of  our 
ports  as  an  example.  There  is  -'evident  danger"  in  entering  the 
port  of  Wilmington  from  the  presence  of  a  blockading  force,  and  by 
this  test  the  blockade  is  effective.  "Access  is  not  really  prevented" 
by  the  blockading  lleet  to  the  same  port,  for  steamers  are  continually 
arriving  and  departing,  so  that  tried  by  this  test  the  blockade  is  inef- 
fective and  invalid.  The  justice  of  our  complaint  on  this  point  is  so 
manifest  as  to  leave  little  room  for  doubt  that  further  reflection  will 
induce  the  British  Government  to  give  us  such  assurances  as  will 
efface  the  painful  impressions  that  would  result  from  its  language,  if 
left  unexplained. 

From  the  foregoing  remarks  you  will  perceive  that  during  nearly 
two  years  of  struggle  in  which  every  energy  of  our  country  has  been 
evoked  for  maintaining  its  very  existence,  the  neutral  nations  of  Eu- 
rope have  pursued  a  policy  which  nominally  impartial  has  been  prac- 
tically most  favorable  to  our  enemies  and  most  detrimental  to  us. 

The  exercise  of  the  neutral  right  of  refusing  entry  into  their  ports 
to  prizes  taken  by  both  belligerents,  was  eminently  hurtful  to  the  Con- 
federacy.     It  was  sternly  asserted  and  maintained. 

The  exercise  of  the  neutral  right  of  commerce  with  a  belligerent 
whose  ports  are  not  blockaded  by  Heets  sufficient  really  to  prevent  ac- 
cess to  them,  would  have  been  eminently  hurtful  to  the  United  States. 
It  was  complaisanuy  abandoned. 

The  duty  of  neutral  States  to  receive  with  cordiality  and  recognize 


9 

with  respect  any  new  confederation  that  independent  States  may  think 
proper  to  form  was  too  clear  to  admit  of  denial,  hut  its  postponement 
was  eminently  heneficial  to  the  United  States  and  detrimental  to  the 
Confederacy.     It  was  postponed. 

In  this  review  of  our  relations  with  the  jpeutral  nations  of  Europe, 
it  has  been  my  purpose  to  point  out  distinctly  that  this  Government 
has  no  complaint  to  make  that  those  nations  declared  their  neutrality. 
It  could  neither  expect  nor  desire  more.  The  complaint  is  that  the 
neutrality  has  been  rather  nominal  than  real,  and  that  recognized 
neutral  rights  have  been  alternately  asserted  and  waived  in  such  man- 
ner as  to  bear  with  great  severity  on  us,  and  to  confer  signal  advan- 
tages on  our  enemy. 

I  have  hitherto  refrained  from  calling  to  your  attention  this  condi- 
tion of  our  relations  with  foreign  powers  for  various  n  The 
chief  of  these  was  the  fear  that  a  statement  of  our  just  grounds  of 
complaint  against  a  course  of  policy  so  injurious  to  our  interests- 
might  he  misconstrued  into  an  appeal  for  aid.  Unequal  as  we  were 
in  mere  numbers  and  available  resources  to  our  enemies,  we  were  con- 
scious of  powers  of  resistance,  in  relation  to^vhieh  Europe  was  incred- 
ulous, and  our  remonstrances  were  therefore  peculiarly  liable  to  be 
misunderstood.  Proudly  self-reliant,  the  Confederacy  knowing  full 
well  the  character  of  the  contest  into  which  it  was  forced,  with  full 
trust  in 'the  superior  qualities  of  its  population,  the  superior  valor  of 
its  soldiers,  the  superior  skill  of  its  Generals,  and  above  all  in  the 
justice  of  its  cause,  felt  no  need  to  appeal  for  the  maintenance  of  its 
rights  to  other  earthly  aids,  and  it  began  and  has  continued  this  strug- 
gle with  the  calm  confidence  ever  inspired  in  those  who  with 
sciousness  of  right  can  invoke  the  Divine  blessing  on  their  cause. 
This  confidence  has  been  so  assured  that  we  have  never  yielded  to 
despondency  under  defeat,  nor  do  we  feel  undue  elation  at  the  present 
brighter  prospect  of  successful  issue  to  our  contest.  It  is  therefore, 
because  our  just  grounds  of  complaint  can  no  longer  be  misinterpreted 
that  Hay  them  clearly  before  you.  It  seems  to  me  now  propei  •  give 
you  the  information  and  although  no  immediate  results  may  be  attained, 
it  is  well  that  truth  should  be  preserved  and  recorded.  It  is  well  that 
those  who  are  to  follow  us  should  understand  the  full  nature  and  char- 
acter of  the  tremendous  conflict  in  which  the  blood  of  o\mr  people  has 
been  poured  out  like  water,  and  in  which  they  have  resisted  unaided 
the  shock  of  hosts  which  would  have  sufficed  to  overthrow  many  of 
the  power/  which  by  their  hesitation  in  according  our  rights  as  an 
independent  nation  imply  doubtof  our  ability  to  maintain  oar  national 
existence.  It  may  be  too,  that  if  in  future  times,  unfriendly  discus- 
sions not  now  anticipated  shall  unfortunately  arise  between  this  Con- 
federacy and  some  European  power, the  recollection  of  our  forbearance 
under  the  grievances  which  i  have  enumerated,  may, be  evoked  with 
ha]  py  influence  in  preventing  any  serious  disturbance  of  peaceful 
relations. 

It  would  not  be  proper  to  close  my  remarks  on  the  subject  cf  our 
foreign  relations  without  adverting  to  the  fact  that  the  correspondence 
between  the  Cabinets  of  France,  Great  Britain  and  Russia  recently 


10 

published,  indicates  a  gratifying  advance  in  the  appreciation  by  those 
governments  of  the  true  interests  of  mankind  as  involved  in  the  war 
on  this  continent.  It  is  to  the  enlightened  ruler  of  the  French  nation 
that  the  public  feeling  of  Europe  is  indebted  for  the  first  official  exhi- 
bition of  its  sympathy  for. the  sufferings  endured  by  this  people  with 
so  much  heroism,  of  its  horror  at  the  awful  carnage  with  which  the 
ress  of  the  war  has  been  marked  and  of  its  desire  for  a  speedy 
The  clear  and  direct  intimation  contained  in  the  language  of 
the  French  note,  that  our  ability  to  maintain  our  independence  has 
been  fully  established  was  .not  controverted  by  the  answer  of  either  of 
the  Cabinets  to  which  it  was  addrossed.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  con- 
ceive a  just  ground  for  a  longer  delay  on  this  subject  after  reading 
the  following  statement  of  facts  contained  in  the  letter  emanating  from 
the  minister  of  his  Imperial  Majesty:  "There  has  been  establi 
from  the  very  beginning  of  this  war.  an  equilibrium  of  forces  between 
the  belligerents,  which  has  since  been  almost  constantly  maintained, 
and,  after  the  spilling  of  so  much  blood,  they  are  to-day.  in  this 
respect,  in  a  situation  which  has  not  sensibly  changed.  Nothing 
authorises  the  prevision*  that  more  decisive  military  operations  will 
shortly  occur.  According  to  the  last  advices  received  in  Europe,  the 
two  armies  were,  on  the  contrary,  in  a  condition  which  permitted 
neither  to  hope  within  a  short  delay  advantages  sufficiently  marked  to 
turn  the  balance  definitively,  and  to  accelerate  the  conclusion  of  peace." 
As  this  government  has  never  professed  the  intention  of  conquering 
the  United  States,  but  has  simply  asserted  its  ability  to  defend  itself 
against  being  conquered  by  that  power,  we  may  safely  conclude  that 
the  claims  of  this  Confederacy  to  its  just  place  in  the  family  of  nations 
cannot  long  be  withheld,  after  so  frank  and  formal  an  admission  of  its 
capacity  to  cope,  on  equal  terms,  with  its  aggressive  foes,  and  to  main- 
tain itself  against  their  attempts  to  obtain  decisive  results  by  arms. 

It  is  my  painful  duty  again  to  inform  you  of  the  renewed  examples 
of  every- conceivable  atrocity  committed  by  the  armed  forces  of  the 
United  States,  at  different  points  within  the  Confederacy,  and  which 
must  stamp  indelible  infamy  not  only  on  the  perpetrators,  but  on  their 
superiors,  who,  having  the  power  to  check  these  outrages  on  humanity, 
numerous  and  well  authenticated  as  they  have  been,  have  not  vet,  in 
a  single  instance  of  which  I  am  aware,  inflicted  punishment  on  the 
wrong-doers.  Since  my  last  communication  to  you.  one  Gei 
McNeil  murdered  seven  prisoners  of  war  in  cold  blood,  and  the  de- 
mand for  his  punishment  has  remained  unsatisfied.  The  government 
of  the  United  States,  after  promising  examination  and  explanation  in 
relation  to  the  charges  made  against  General  Benjamin  K.  Butler,  has, 
by  its  subsequent  silence,  after  repeated  efforts  on  my  part  to  obtain 
some  answer  on  the  subject,  not  only  admitted  his  guilt,  but  sanctioned 
it  by  acquiescence,  and  I  have  accordingly  branded  this  criminal  as  an 
outlaw  and  directed  his  execution  in  expiation  of  his  crimes  if  he 
should  fall  into  the  hands  of  any  of  our  forces.  Recently  I  have  re- 
ceived apparently  authentic  intelligence  of  another  general  by  the 
name  of  Milroy,  who  has  issued  orders  in  Western  Virginia  for  the 
payment  of  money  to   him    by   the   inhabitants,  accompanied  by   the 


11 

most  savage  threats  of  shooting  every  recusant,  besides  burning  his 
house;  and  threatening  similar  atrocities  against  any  of  our  citizens 
■who  shall  fail  to  betray  their  country  by  giving  him  prompt  notice  of 
the  approach  of  any  of  our  forces,  and  this  subject  has  also  been  sub- 
mitted to  the  super;or  military  authorities  of  the  United  States,  with 
but  faint  hope  that  they  will  evince  any  disapprobation  of  the  act. 
Humanity  shudders  at  the  appalling  atrocities  which  are  being  daily 
multiplied  under  the  sanction  of  those  who  have  obtained  temporary 
possession  of  power  in  the  United  States  and  who  an-  fist  making  its 
once  fair  name  a  by-word  iA"  reproach  among  civilized  men.  Not 
even  the  natural  indignation  inspired  by  this  conduct  should  make  us, 
however  so  unjust,  as  to  attribute  to  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  who 
are  subjected  to  the  despotism  that  now  reigns  with  unbridled  license 
in  the  city  of  Washington,  a  willing  acquiescence  in  its  conduct  of 
the  war.  There  must  necessarily  exist  among  our  enemies,  very 
many,  perhaps  a  majority,  whose  humanity  recoils  from  all  participa- 
tion in  such  atrocities,  but  who  cannot  be  held  wholly  guiltless  while 
permitting  their  continuance  without  an  effort  at  repression. 

The  public  journals  of  the  North  have  been  received,  containing  a 
proclamation  dated  on  the  first  day  of  the  present  month,  signed  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  which  lie  orders  and  declares 
all  slaves  within  ten  of  the  States  of  the  Confederacy  to  lie  free,  ex- 
cept such  as  are  found  within  certain  districts  now  occupied  in  part  by 
the  armed  forces  of  the  enemy. 

We  may  well  leave  it  to  the  instincts  of  that  common  humanity 
which  a  .beneficent  Creator  has  implanted  in  the  breasts  of  our  fellow- 
men  of  all  countries,  to  pass  judgment  on  a  measure  by  which  several 
millions  of  human  beings  of  an  inferior  race,  peaceful  afid  contented 
laborers  in  their  sphere,  are  doomed  to  extermination,  while  at  the 
same  time  they  are  encouraged  to  a  general  assassination  of  their 
masters  by  the  insidious  recommendation  ';  to  abstain  from  violence 
unless  in  necessary  self  defence."  Our  own  detestation  of  those  who 
have  attempted  the  most  execrable  measure  recorded  in  the  history  of 
guilty  man.  is  tempered  by  profound  contempt  for  the  impotent  rage 
which  itdiscloses.  So  far  as  regards  the  action  of  this  government 
on  such  criminals  as  may  attempt  its  execution,  I  confine  myself  to 
informing  you  that  1  shall,  unless  in  your  wisdom  you  deem  some 
other  course  more  expedient,  deliver  to  the  several  State  authorities 
all  commissioned  officers  of  the  United  States  that  may  he  re  aft  r  be 
captured  by  our  forces  in  any  of  the  States  embraced  in  the  procla- 
mation, that  they  may  be  dealt  with  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 
those  States  providing  for  the  punishment  of  criminals  engaged  in 
exciting  servile  insurrection.  The  enlisted  soldiers  I  shall  continue 
to  treat  as  unwilling  instruments  in  the  commission  of  these  crimes 
and  shall  direct  their  discharge  and  return  to  their  homes  on  the 
proper  and  usual  parole* 

In  its  political  aspect,  this  measure  possesses  great  significance,  and 
to  it  in  this  light,  I  invite  your  attention.  It  affords  to  our  whole  people 
the  complete  and  crowning  proof  of  the  true  nature  of  the  designs  of 
the  party  which  elevated  to  power  the  present  occupant  of  the  Presi- 


12 

dential  chair  at  Washington,  and  which  sought  to  conceal  its  purposes 
by  every  variety  of  artful  device,  and  by  the  perfidious  use  of  the 
most  solemn  and  repeated  pledges  on  every  possible  occasion.  I  ex- 
tract, in  this  connection,  as  a  single  example,  the  following  declaration 

made  by  President  Lincoln,  under  the  solemnity  of  his  oath  as  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  United  States,  on  the  4th  March,  1861  : 

"  Apprehension  seems  to  exist  among  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States,  that  by  the  accession  of  a  Republican  Administration,  their 
property  and  their  peace  and  personal  security  are  to  be  endangered. 
There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehensions. 
Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  fhe  contrary  has  all  the  while 
existed,  and  been  open  to  their  inspection.  It  is  found  in  nearly  all 
the  published  speeches  of  him  who  now  addresses  you.  I  do  but 
quote  from  one  of  those  speeches  when  I  declare  that  I  have  no  pur- 
pose, directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery 
in  the  States  where  it  exists.  I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do 
so;  ami  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so.  Those  who  nominated  and 
elected  me.  did  so  with  full  knowledge  that  I  had  made  this  and  many 
similar  declarations,  and  had  never  recanted  them.  And,  more  than 
this,  they  placed  in  the  platform  for  my  acceptance,  and  as  a  law  to 
themselves  and  to  me.  the  clear  and  emphatic  resolution  which  I  now 
read : 

"  '  Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights  of  the 
States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each  State  to  order  and  control  its 
own  domestic  institutions  according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively, 
-ential  to  that  balance  of  powers  on  which  the  perfection  and 
endurance  of  our  political  fabric  depend :  and  we  denounce  the  law- 
less invasion  by  armed  force  of  the  soil  of  any  State  or  Territory,  no 
matter  under  what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  crimes."  " 

Nor  was  this  declaration  of  the  want  of  power  or  disposition  to  in- 
terfere with  our  social  system  confined  to  a  state  of  peace.  Both 
before  and  after  the  actual  commencement  of  hostilities,  the  President 
of  the  United  States  repeated  in  formal  official  communication  to  the 
Cabinets  of  Great  Britain  an  I  France^  that  he  was  utterly  without 
constitutional  power  to  do  the  act  which  he  has  just  committed,  and 
that  in  119  possible  event,  whether  the  secession  of  these  States  resulted 
in  the  establishment  of  a  separate  Confederacy  or  in  the  restoration  of 
the  Union,  was  there  any  authority  by  virtue  of  which  he  could  either 
restore  a  disaffected  State  to  the  Union  by  force  of  arms  or  make  any 
change  in  any  of  its  institutions.  I  refer  especially  for  verification 
of  this  assertion, £0  thedespatches  addressed  by  the  Secretary  of  State 
of  the  United  States  under  direction  of  the  President,  to  the  Ministers 
of  the  United  States  at  London  and  Paris,  under  date  of  Kith  and- 
•  22.1  April,  1861. 

The  people  of  this  Confederacy  then  cannot  fail  to  receive  this  pro- 
clamation as  the  fullest  vindication  of  their  own  sagacity  in  foreseeing 
the  uses  to  which  the  dominant  party  in  the  United  States  intended 
from  the  beginning,  to  apply  their  power,  nor  can  they  cease  to 
remember,  with  devout  thankfulness,  that  it  is  to  their  own  vigilance 
in  resisting  the  first  stealthy  progress  of  approaching  despotism,  that 


13 

they  owe  their  escape  from  consequences  now  apparent  to  the  most 
sceptical.  This  proclamation  will  have  another  salutary  effort  in 
calming  the  fears  of  those  who  have  constantly  evinced  the  apprehen- 
sion that  this  war  might  end  by  some  reconstruction  of  the  old  Union 
or  some  renewal  of  close  political  relations  with  the  United  States. 
These  fears  have  never  been  shared  by  me,  nor  have  I  ever  been  able 
to  perceive  on  what  basis  they  could  rest.  But  the  proclamation 
affords  the  fullest  guarantee  of  the  impossibility  of  such  a  result  ■  it 
has  established  a  state  of  things  which  can  lead  to  but  one  of  three 
possible  consequences;  the  extermination  of  the  slaves,  the  exile  of 
the  whole  white  population  from  the  Confederacy,  or  absolute  and 
total  separation  of  these  States  from  the  United  States. 

This  proclamation  is  also  an  authentic  statement  by  the  government 
of  the  United  States  of  its  inability  to  subjugate  the  South  by  force 
of  arms,  and  as  such  must  be  accepted  by  neutral  nations,  which  can 
no  longer  find  any  justification  in  withholding  our  just  claims  to 
formal  recognition.  It  is  also  in  effect  an  intimation  to  the  p<  ople  of 
the  North  that  they  must  prepare  to  submit  to  a  separation  now  be- 
come inevitable,  for  that  people  arc  too  acute  not  to  understand  fliat 
a  restoration  of  the  Union  has  been  rendered  forever  impossible  by 
the  adoption  of  a  measure  which,  from  its  very  nature,  neither  admits 
of  retraction  nor  can  co-exist  with  union. 

Among  the  subjects  to  which  your  attention  will  be  specially 
devoted  during  the  present  session,  you  will  no  doubt  deem  the  adop- 
tion of  some  comprehensive  system  of  finance  as  being  of  paramount 
importance;  The  increasing  public  debt,  the  great  augmentation  in 
the  volume  of  the  currency  with  its  necessary  concomitant  of  extrava- 
gant prices  for  all  articles  of  consumption,  the  want  of  revenue  from 
a  taxation  adequate  to  support  the  public  credit,  allVinite  in  admonish- 
ing us  that  energetic  and  wise  legislation  alone  can  prevent  serious 
embarrassment  in  our  monetary  affairs.  It  is  my  conviction  that  the 
people  of  the  Confederacy  will  freely  meet  taxation  on  a  scale  ade- 
quate to  the  maintenance  of  the  public  credit  and  the  support  of 
government.  When  each  family  is  sending  forth  its  most  precious 
ones  to  meet  exposure  in  camp  and  death  in  battle,  what  ground  can 
there  be  to  doubt  the  disposition  to  devote  a  tithe  of  its  income  and 
more,  if  more  be  necessary,  to  provide  the  government  with  mean 
ensuring  the  comfort  of  its  defenders?  If  our  enemies  submit  to  an 
ex.  Lse  on  every  commodity  they  produce  and  to  the  daily  presence  of 
the  tax-gatherer,  with  no  higher  motive  than  the  hope  of  success  in 
their  wicked  designs  against  us,  the  suggestion  of  an  unwillingness 
on  the  part  of  this  people  to  submit  to  the  taxation  necessary  for  the 
success  of  their  defense  is  an  imputation  on  their  patriotism 'that  few 
Will  be  disposed  to  make,  and  that  none  can  justify. 

The  legislation  of  your  last  session  intended  to  hasten  the  funding 
of  outstanding  Treasury  notes  has  proved  beneficial  as  shown  b\  the 
returns  annexed  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  But 
it  was  neither  sufficiently  prompt  nor  far-reaching  to  meet  the  full 
extent  of  the  evil.  The  passage  of  some  enactment,  carrying  still 
farther  the  policy  of  that  law  by  fixing  a  limitation  not  later  than  the 


14 

1st  July  next  to  the  delay  allowed  for  funding  the  notes  issued  prior 
to  the  1st  December,  1862,  will,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary,  have 
the  effect  to  withdraw  from  circulation  Dearly  the  entire  sum  issued 
previous  to  the  last  named  date.  If  to  this  he  added  a  revenue  from 
adequate  taxation,  and  a  negotiation  of  bonds  guarantied  proportion- 
ately by  the  sever;;!  States  as  has  already  been  generously  proposed 
by  some  of  them  in  enactments  spontaneously  adopted,  there  is  little 
doubt  that  we  shall  see  our  finance-  restored  to  a  sound  and  satisfac- 
tory condition  ;  our  circulation  relieved  of  the  redundancy  now  pro- 
ductive of  so  many  mischiefs  ;  and  our  credit  placed  on  such  a  basis 
as  to  relieve  us  from  further  anxiety  relative  to  our  resources  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  war. 

It  is  true  that  at  its  close  our  debt  will  be  largo  ;  but  it  will  be  due 
to  our  own  people,  and  neither  the  interest  nor  the  capital  will  be  ex- 
ported to  distant  countries,  impoverishing  ours  for  their  benefit.  On 
the  return  of  peace  the  untold  wealth  which  will  spring  from  our  soil 
will  render  the  burthen  of  taxation  far  less  onerous  than  is  now  sup- 
posed, especially  if  we  take  into  consideration  that  we  shall  then  be 
free  from  the  large  and  steady  drain  of  our  substance  to  which  we 
were  subjected  in  the  late  Union  through  the  instrumentality  of  sec- 
tional legislation  and  protective  tariffs. 

I  recommend  to  your  earnest  atteution  the  whole  report  of  the 
Seeretary  of  the  Treasury  on  this  important  subject  and  trust  that 
your  legislation  on  it  will  be  delayed  no  longer  than  may  be  required 
to  enable  your  wisdom  to  devise  the  proper  measures  for  ensuring  the 
accomplishment  of  the  objects  proposed. 

The  operations  of  the  War  Department  have  been  in  the  main 
satisfactory.  In  the  Report  of  the  Secretary,  herewith  submitted, 
■will  be  found  a  summary  of  many  memorable  successes.  They  are 
with  justice  ascribed,  in  large  measure,  to  the  reorganization  and  re- 
inforcement of  our  armies  under  the  operation  of  the  enactments  for 
conscription.  The  wisdom  and  efficacy  of  these  acts  have  been  ap- 
proved by  results,  and  the  like  spirit  of  unity,  endurance  and  self- 
devotion  in  the  people,  which  has  hitherto  sustained  their  action,  must 
be  relied  on  to  assure  their  enforcement  under  the  continuing  necessi- 
ties of  our  situation.  The  recommendations  of  the  Secretary  to  this 
effect  are  tempered  by  suggestions  for  their  amelioration,  and  the  sub- 
ject deserves  the  eonsideration  of  Congress.  For  the  perfection  of  our 
military  organization  no  appropriate  means  should  be  rejected,  and  on 
this  subject  the  opinions'  of  the  Secretary  merit  early  attention.  It 
is  gratifying  to  perceive  that,  under  all  the  efforts  and  sacrifices  of 
war,  the  power,  means  and  resources  of  the  Confederacy  for  its  suc- 
cessful prosecution  are  increasing.  Dependence  on  foreign  supplies 
is  to  be  deplored,  and  should,  as  far  as  practicable,  be  obviated  by  the 
development  and  employment  of  internal  resources.  The  peculiar 
circumstances  of  the  country,  however,  render  this  difficult,  and  re- 
quire extraordinary  encouragements  and  facilities  to  be  granted  by 
the  government.  The  cmbarrasments  resulting  from  the  limited  ca- 
pacity of  the  railroads  to  afford  transportation,  and  the  impossibility 
of  otherwise  commanding  and  distributing  the   necessary  supplies  for 


15 


the  armies  render  the  control  of  the  roads  under  some  general  super- 
vision, and  resort  to  the    power    of  impressment,  military  exigencies 
While  such  powers  have  to  be  exercised,  they  should  be  guarded    by 
judicious  provisions  against   perversion   or  abuse,  and   be,  as   recom- 
mended by  the  Secretary,  under  due  regulation  of  law. 

I  specially  recommend  in  this  connection  some  revision  of  the  ex- 
emption law  of  last  session.  Serious  complaints  have  reached  me  of 
the  inequality  of  its  operation  from  eminent  and  patriotic  citizens 
whoso  ..pinions  merit  great  consideration,  and  I  trust  that  some 
means  will  be  devised  for  leaving  at  home  a  sufficient  local  police  with- 
out making  discriminations,  always  to  be  deprecated,  between  different 
classes  of  our  citizens. 

( >-ir  relations  with  the  Indians  generally  continue  to  be  friendly  A 
portion  of  the  Cherokee  people  have  assumed  an  attitude  hostile 'to  the 
Confederate  Government;  but  it  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state  that 
the  mass  of  intelligence  and  worth  in  that  nation  have  remained  true 
and  loyal  to  their  treaty  engagements.  With  this  exception,  there 
have  Keen  no  important  instances  of  disaffection  among  any  of  the 
friendly  n  itions  and  tribes.  Dissatisfaction  recently  manifested  itself 
among  certain  portions  of  them  :  but  this  resulted 'from  a  misappre- 
hension of  the  intentions  of  the  Government  in  their  behalf.  This 
has  been  removed  and  no  further  difficulty  is  anticipated 

The  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navj  herewith  transmitted  ex- 
hibits the  progress  made  in  this  branch  of  the  public  service  since 
your  adjournment,  as  well  as  its  present  condition.  Tin  details  em- 
braced in  it  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  render  it,  in  mv  opinion,  incom- 
patible with  the  public  interests  that  they  should  be  published  with  this 
message.  I  therefore  confine  myself  to  inviting  your  attention  to  the 
information  therein  contained. 

The  Report  of  the  Postmaster  General  shows  that  during  the  first 
postal  year  under  our  Government,  terminating  on  the  30th  of  June 
our  revenues  were  in  excess  0f  those  received  by  the  former 
Government  in  its  last  postal  year,  while  the  expenses  were  greatly 
decreased  There  is  still,  however,  a  considerable  deficit  in  the  reve- 
nues ot  the  Department  as  compared  with  its  expenses,  and  although 
the  grants  already  made  from  the  general  Treasury  will  suffice  to  cov°er 
all  liabilities  to  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year,  ending  on  the  30th  June 
next,  I  recommend  some  legislation,  if  any  can  be  constitutionally 
devised,  for  aiding  the  revenues  of  that  Department  during  the  ensuing 
fiscal  year,  in  order  to  avoid  too  great  a  reduction  of  postal  facilities 
lour  attention  is  also  invited  to  numerous  other  improvements  in  the 
service  recommended  in  the  report,  and  for  which,  legislation  is 
required.  ° 

1  recommend  to  the  Congress  to' devise  a  proper  mode  of  relief  to 
of  our  citizens  whose  property  has  been  destroyed  by  order  of 
the  Government  in  pursuance  of  a  policy  adopted  as  a  means  of  na- 
tional defence.  It  is  true  that  full  indemnity  cannot  now  be  made 
but  some  measure  of  relief  is  due  to  those  patriotic  citizens  who  have 
borne  private  loss  for  the  public  good,  whose  property  in  effect  has 
been  taken  for  public  use,  though  not  directly  appropriated 


16 

\  eminent,  born  of  the  spirit  of  freedom  and  of  the  equality 
and   inde]  of  the   States  could  not  have  survived  a  seliisli  <»r 

jealous  di  d   making  each  only  careful  of  its  own   interest   or, 

safety.     The  fate  of  the  Confederacy  under  the   blessing  of  Divine 
.'ends  upon  the  harmony,  energy  and  unity  of  the  States. 
Ives  ou  you,  their  representatives,  as  far  as  practi- 
}  to  correct  errors,  to  cultivate  fraternity  and 
i    in  the  people  a  just  confidence  in  the  Government  of  their 
chuiev .     To  that  confidence  and  to  the  unity  and  self-sacrificing  patri- 
otism hitherto  displayed  is  due  the  success  which  has  marked  the  un- 
equal contest,  and  has  brought  our  country  into  a  condition  at  the 
ut  time  such  as  the  most  sanguine  would  not  have  ventured  to 
predict  at  the  commencement  of  our  struggle.     Our  armies  are  larger, 
better  disciplined  and  more  thoroughly  armed  and  equipped   than  at 
any  previous  period  of  the  war.     The  energies  of  a  whole  nation,  de- 
voted, to  the  single  object  of  success  in  this  war,  have  accomplished 
ii y  of  our  trials  have,  by  a  beneficent  Providence, 
ed  into  blessings.     The  magnitude  of  the  perils  which 
ed  have  developed  the  true  qualities  and  illustrated  the 
■four  people,  thus  gaining  for  the  Confederacy  from 
its  birth  a  just  appreciation  from  the  other  nations  of  the  earth.     The 
injuries  resulting  from  the  interruption  of  foreign  commerce  have 
received  compensation  by  the  development  of  our  internal  resources. 
Cannon  crown  our  fortresses  that  were  east  from  the  products  of  mines 
opened  and  furnaces  built  during  the  war.     Our  mountain  caves  yield 
of  the  nitre  for  the  manufacture  of  powder  and  promise  in- 
crease of  product.     From   our  own  foundries  and  laboratories,  from 
our  c  iries  and  workshops  we  derive,  in  a  great  measure,  the 

warlil  rial,  the  ordnance  and  ordnance  stores  which  are  expended 

so  pr<  in  the  numerous  and  desperate  engagements  that  rapidly 

>ach  other.     Cotton  and  woollen  fabrics,  shoes  and  bar- 

<n  carriages  are  produced  in  daily  increasing  quantities 
by    the    fact  tries    springing    into    existence.      Our   fields,  no    loi 

by  cotton  that  cannot  be  exported,  are  devoted  to  the  pro- 
ducts -and  the  growth  of   stock  formerly  purchased  with 
of  cotton.      In   the  homes  of  our  noble  and  devoted  \vo- 
•  whose  sublime  sacrifices  our  success  would  have  been 
impossible,  the  noise  of  the  loom  and  of  the  spinning  wheel  may  be 
heard  throughout  the  land.      With  hearts  swelling  with  gratitude  let 
us    then    join    in   returning   thanks   to   God  and    in  beseeching    the 
continuance  of  his  protecting  care  over  our  cause  and  the  restoration 
its  manifold  blessings  to  our  beloved  country. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 
Richmond,  January  12,  1S63. 


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